24278: Morse: Aubelin Jolicoeur passes on

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

oloffsonram@aol.com)

When I first moved to Haiti in 1985, my mother came along for a week or  so
and, among other things, introduced me to two people; Katherine  Dunham, who
resided at Habitation Leclerc, Martissant 23, and Aubelin  Jolicoeur, (white
suit, cane in hand, quite dapper), who  was based at the Hotel Oloffson.

Aubelin was a journalist, to say the  least, and my mom was in the arts.
They had known each other probably since the  1940's. Aubelin's eyes, piercing, almost
diabolical at times, surveyed me from  head to toe, literally. When I took over
the Hotel Oloffson in 1987 our lives  and our fates became intertwined, for
better or worse. Aubelin had  been forever immortalized when Graham Greene
wrote the Comedians and based  the character Petit Pierre on him. During
our times together,  Aubelin  was trying to hold on to the past, <La Belle Epoque>,
and I was  trying to get a handle on the present.  The most difficult times we had,
our most emotional conversations, were during Aristide's first three year
exile.  Aubelin detested the man while I defended him as the choice of the
people.  Aubelin thought that the Haitian population wasn't ready to vote. Not
educated  enough. Those were difficult times. Eventually, my views of Aristide
became more  like Aubelin's and he would often remind me in his Haitian version
of the  Queen's English <I told you so>, <I was right>. <He is a
monster>. My final conversation with Aubelin was in Jacmel a couple of weeks  ago. At one
point a tear came to his eye when he talked about his  predicament, but we were
mostly talking of the Ancient Egyptians,  Dessalines and a book I was working
on concerning Haiti's  mystical relationship with the Ancient Egyptians.
Aubelin passed away  on St. Valentines Day. He would say it was because he was
a man of love, but  perhaps it was because he felt alone that day. When he
passed away, many people  in Haiti, including myself, lost a father.

The end of an era? No. The era had already ended.  We're still trying  to
pick up the pieces and move forward.

Richard Morse